Monday, March 9, 2015

Cookie Jar: Potato Chip Cookies

Another hellish week in the books! The week began with an observation by our district office. We were assured the observations were not evaluative, however, I'm certain the data collected will be used to bite someone in the ass. Never trust a person from the district office. . .lol. I know some of you district office people are reading this and laughing!

Actually, the two groups of guests who visited me were really nice. Perhaps they reamed me in the initial debrief, but they were nice and polite. That was the overall sentiment echoed by many coworkers. The last group of intruders were rude to some teachers. Of course, some teachers weren't around to experience the rudeness, while some of us had polite people the first time too. We'll see how the department debrief goes tomorrow. Unfortunately, I won't be there.

In retrospect, the observations were the worst part of the week, but when you couple being "on stage" with trying to catch up from being out so much during the previous two weeks, it seems like even treading water is barely manageable.

I could not help being out of the classroom. I had a workshop on Oahu that had been scheduled for some time. My aunt passed away just before that, and services were held on Oahu. Then I was out for a day to attend a pretty worthless workshop. That workshop was in town, but it still kept me away from my students. I hope I'm done traveling for a while. I need time to plan for the 4th quarter, get my classroom up to speed, and get my house up to speed.

Unlike me, several others here will be traveling soon. The Help will be heading to Oahu next week to celebrate his mom's birthday. D1 will also be hitting the road, er, skies. She is headed to SoCal for some kind of convention. It will just be D2 and I holding down the fort. Yippeeeee! I guess that means cookies and pistachio nuts (another guilty pleasure) for dinner!

I often talk smack about D2, saying she is a picky eater and difficult to feed. That's true, no doubt. But D2 and I are kindred spirits when it comes to snacking. We love cookies, chips, salty nuts, cake, li hing mui, arare. . .anything without mustard or wasabi.

D2 and I find it impossible to walk past a cookie jar without dipping into it at each pass. We both like crunchy cookies. D1 can easily stay away from a cookie jar (as long as it's not filled with chocolate chip cookes). D1 will eat soft cookies, warm from the oven. D2 and I NEED the cookies to be crunchy.

One of our favorite cookies is potato chip cookies. Potato chip cookies are easy to make and it gives us a good excuse for not eating all the way down to the bottom of a bag of potato chips. None of us (even D1) like eating the potato chip crumbs, so potato chip cookies are a good way to use those small bits. And D2 is okay with nuts, as long as they are chopped fine. I prefer to use pecans or macadamia nuts in my baking; I never use walnuts. I find walnuts to be slightly bitter, and I don't like them. I can get into the rich, buttery quality of macadamia nuts or the toasty, warm taste of pecans. I can't get into bitter.

In preparation for those cookies & nuts dinners, I made some potato chip cookies this weekend. There is a chance they may be gone before the week is over, but that won't be a problem. We are also "working" on another Costco-sized bag of potato chips (we buy the Kettle Chips). By the end of the week, we should have more potato chip crumbs to use for cookies!

Another hellish week in the books! The week began with an observation by our district office. We were assured the observations were not evaluative, however, I'm certain the data collected will be used to bite someone in the ass. Never trust a person from the district office. . .lol. I know some of you district office people are reading this and laughing!

Actually, the two groups of guests who visited me were really nice. Perhaps they reamed me in the initial debrief, but they were nice and polite. That was the overall sentiment echoed by many coworkers. The last group of intruders were rude to some teachers. Of course, some teachers weren't around to experience the rudeness, while some of us had polite people the first time too. We'll see how the department debrief goes tomorrow. Unfortunately, I won't be there.

In retrospect, the observations were the worst part of the week, but when you couple being "on stage" with trying to catch up from being out so much during the previous two weeks, it seems like even treading water is barely manageable.

I could not help being out of the classroom. I had a workshop on Oahu that had been scheduled for some time. My aunt passed away just before that, and services were held on Oahu. Then I was out for a day to attend a pretty worthless workshop. That workshop was in town, but it still kept me away from my students. I hope I'm done traveling for a while. I need time to plan for the 4th quarter, get my classroom up to speed, and get my house up to speed.

Unlike me, several others here will be traveling soon. The Help will be heading to Oahu next week to celebrate his mom's birthday. D1 will also be hitting the road, er, skies. She is headed to SoCal for some kind of convention. It will just be D2 and I holding down the fort. Yippeeeee! I guess that means cookies and pistachio nuts (another guilty pleasure) for dinner!

I often talk smack about D2, saying she is a picky eater and difficult to feed. That's true, no doubt. But D2 and I are kindred spirits when it comes to snacking. We love cookies, chips, salty nuts, cake, li hing mui, arare. . .anything without mustard or wasabi.

D2 and I find it impossible to walk past a cookie jar without dipping into it at each pass. We both like crunchy cookies. D1 can easily stay away from a cookie jar (as long as it's not filled with chocolate chip cookes). D1 will eat soft cookies, warm from the oven. D2 and I NEED the cookies to be crunchy.

One of our favorite cookies is potato chip cookies. Potato chip cookies are easy to make and it gives us a good excuse for not eating all the way down to the bottom of a bag of potato chips. None of us (even D1) like eating the potato chip crumbs, so potato chip cookies are a good way to use those small bits. And D2 is okay with nuts, as long as they are chopped fine. I prefer to use pecans or macadamia nuts in my baking; I never use walnuts. I find walnuts to be slightly bitter, and I don't like them. I can get into the rich, buttery quality of macadamia nuts or the toasty, warm taste of pecans. I can't get into bitter.

In preparation for those cookies & nuts dinners, I made some potato chip cookies this weekend. There is a chance they may be gone before the week is over, but that won't be a problem. We are also "working" on another Costco-sized bag of potato chips (we buy the Kettle Chips). By the end of the week, we should have more potato chip crumbs to use for cookies!